A socialite is a person who is well known in the society and they are mostly wealthy. There are different kinds of socialites but the millennial era has seen the rise of the beautiful and sexy socialite. But they did not just appear suddenly, someone paved the way.

Talitha Getty

“Beautiful and damned” is how Yves Saint Laurent described Talitha and her husband, Paul Getty. Although Talitha dreamed of becoming an actress and had enrolled in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, her fame revolved around her face and fortune. Tatler magazine bestowed on Talitha the title of “It Girl of 1965,” despite her having not really done anything aside from a few bit parts in films. However, she was described as “a total, complete transfixer of men” and a renowned beauty.

Marchesa Luisa Casati rose to fame at age 15 when she became the youngest heiress in Italian society. At the turn of the 20th century, Marchesa was famous for being a rich eccentric—kohl-lined eyes, naked under a fur coat, with a necklace of live snakes—who threw extravagant parties. Her parties on the Grand Canal of Venice were reportedly the stuff of legend, with servants who “continually tossed handfuls of copper filings onto the flames, transforming them into blazes of vivid green.” She also once famously said, “I want to be a living work of art.”

So what exactly is the job description of a socialite? These are people who are who are paid to go out there and mingle with the who is who in the society.

Socialites are people who have, undoubtedly, one of the strangest jobs in the world. They are, essentially, paid to socialise – to associate with the rich elite, to attend social and charity events in the world’s major cities, and to make appearances at the newest, hippest spots. The key to being a socialite is to be popular as well as a savvy networker. Typically, famous socialites have been born into wealthy families and have inherited large fortunes and very useful names.

Many people use the word ‘socialite’ in a derogatory sense: To some, this job description implies someone who simply got lucky and gets paid for a whole lot of, basically, nothing. However, keeping the money rolling in does require a team of supportive, savvy business people; behind every socialite is a clever agent, at least one marketing specialist and a famous face who knows how to conduct themselves in the smartest, most universally acceptable and popular way possible.

Socialites come and go. Every decade sees a fresh new set of them come and work their magic. Still there are those who are the best of the best in the game.

Caroline Astor

“The grandmother of all socialites”—and, as such, “the original American snob.” Her “Four Hundred” was the “avatar of any subsequent ‘in’ crowd worthy of the name (e.g., the ‘in’ and ‘out’ lists Truman Capote drew up for his Black and White Ball).”

Jackie O.

“The socialite every socialite not so secretly wants to be, and the twentieth century’s greatest fashion icon, bar none.” What’s more, “she made it socially acceptable—even enviable— to marry a Greek billionaire.”

Paris Hilton

As much as it pained some of our experts to say this (one crossed her name out altogether), Paris “belongs high up on this list because of the immense success she has had in parlaying minor, ‘Page Six’– and porno-fueled notoriety into inexorable global celebrity. Like all socialites, this woman is a self-marketing genius, but on a much larger playing field.”